Streets Department

Welcome to the Independence Street Department. Under the direction of Tim Donnelly, the department maintains 65 miles of streets as well as alleys and municipal parking lots. Street surfaces include concrete, asphalt, and rock. Tim has been with the City of Independence since 1979.

The department strives to maintain the streets and keep them in the best condition possible. They do pothole patching, surface repairs, snow and ice removal, and street sweeping. They are also responsible for street and traffic light signage, municipal parking lots, and line and curb painting.

The City of Independence is working within a ten-year street improvement program to upgrade and resurface streets, curbs, and gutters. This includes the evaluation and rating of all city streets, curbs, and gutters with prioritization given based on functional deficiencies and ride quality.

Other responsibilities include the compost facility, flag installations, emergency response for storm damage, and tree trimming.

The Independence Street Department is made up of 5 operators. Their primary responsibility is the maintenance and repair of the City streets.
Duties & Responsibilities

Snow and ice removal

Street sweeping

Pothole filling

Watering the flowers in public places

Installing flags

Cleaning up storm damage or other debris

Completing any other tasks that the City needs done

Signal Timing Improvements

1st Street Signal Timing Improvements

The City of Independence has received the results of the Iowa DOT TEAP study which was prepared by Snyder and Associates engineering. The TEAP program provides free traffic engineering expertise to local units of government to identify cost-effective traffic safety and operational improvements.

The results of the study indicated the existing signal timing does not provide pedestrians with enough time to safely cross the streets. The existing signal system is a fixed time coordinated system without pedestrian push buttons or vehicle detectors. That means all of the signals operate on the same 54 second cycle length and rotate through all traffic movements regardless of any traffic present.

In order to accommodate the pedestrian traffic and meet the signal timing standards established in the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) additional green and all-way red time needs to be added to each movement. The north-south crossing time on the east side of the intersection of Hwy 150/3rd Ave SE & 1st Street East is the longest pedestrian crossing and it is the controlling time for the system.

Traffic counts were conducted at the signalized intersection and the timing was optimized giving preference to the Highway 150 movements. Two timing plans were developed, one for the AM peak and one for the PM peak. Both are 80 second cycles and only differ in which movement gets more green time.

Drivers will experience longer delays but the times are considered acceptable to the national standards. The pedestrians will be able to cross the street more safely with the additional time and it will especially benefit older persons or those with disabilities who need the extra time to make it across the street before the signal changes.

Please click the links below to see the videos of the proposed changes. It will download the video and once completed, it will need to be clicked on to start the viewing in a new window.